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AUTOMATIC BALL -GoUPI-.ING PoR RAILWAY WAGoNs. No. 587,061.

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H, F. OBERLAUTER. y AUTOMATIC BALL GOUPLING PoR RAILWAY WAGoNs.

Patented July 27, 1897.

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UNITED STATES PATENT. EEicE.

HUGO FELIX OBERLUTER, or LEIPsio, GERMANY.

AUTOMATIC BALL-COUPLING FOR RAILWAY-WAGONS.

vSPIECIFICA'IIO1\T forming part of Letters Patent No. 5817,061, dated July 27, 1897. Application tiled July 11,1896, Serial No. 598,851- (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern;

Be it known that I, HUGO. FELIX OBERLU- TER, merchant, of 2 Schlossgasse, Leipsic, in the Kingdom of Saxony, Empire of Germany, have invented new and useful Improvements in Automatic Ball-Couplings for Railway- Wagons, of which the following is a specification.

This invent-ion relates to an automatic ballcoupling for railway-carriages and the like which can be employed as a simple coupling or as a buffer and coupling combined.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings,

Figure 1 is a sectional plan, and Fig. 2 a sec-- tional elevation, of a coupling constructed in accordance with my invention.

The coupling consists of a fork a, which serves as a draw-bar or as a buffer-bar, which can be provided with draw and buffer springs in the usual well-known way. In the fork a.

is fixed a casting Z9, which serves as a path for a ball b', as will be hereinafterdescribed, as a guide for the coupling-releasing slide c, and partly as a holderfor the tongue-piece CZ. The two projections or shoulders a* in the fork a prevent the casting b from being drawn out, and the said casting is secured against' movement sidewise by means ofv a ring or band e, surrounding the fork a.

In order to guide the tongue-pieces CZ with certainty into the slots of the opposite coupling, two plates f f are provided, which, together with the fork a, form a funnel with a large opening directed away from the carriage. The tongue-piece CZ is provided with a universal joint and is held sidewise by two springs g g and horizontally by a spring h. (See Fig. 2.)

When the coupling is to serve also as a buffer, a buffer-plate z' is fixed in front of the funnel formed by the fork a and the plates ff. The casting t carries in a slot the ball b', which serves as the coupling member and which projects about one-third of its diame- 'ter out of the slot when the coupling is connected and enters the corresponding groove or recess in the tongue-piece CZ. The slot itself is so, formed that when the coupling` of two carriages is being effected the ball b is pushed backward by the tongue-piece CZ andgradually enters wholly into the cast-ing Z9, so that the tongue-piece CZ can easily slide past Y the ball Z9. In order to secure the immediate falling back of the ball directly the groove or recess in the tongue-piece CZ comes opposite the ball, the slot in the casting Z) is made oblique, as shown. Immediately the buffersprings press the two carriages away from one another the ball enters to the extent of one-third of its diameter into the groove in the tongue-piece CZ and the two carriages are thereby securely coupled together.

The uncoupling is elfected by means of a hand-lever 7c, the shaft Z, and a crank m, by which the slide c can be raised in the cast-ing ZJ high enough to permit the ball ZJ' to enter a recess in the said slide and thereby release the tongue-piece CZ. The slide c is easily moved and is guided in the casting b. It has turned out part of the size of the ball, and of a depth corresponding to the distance the ball enters the groove in the tongue-piece cZwhen the coupling isconnected. Vhen the handlever 7c is actuated, the coupling is released and the carriages can be separated. The lever Zo is then turned back, so that the coupling of the carriages can'be effected again automatically.

For securing the slide c in position so that uncoupling should not occ ur through shaking or jolting a stop mechanism is arranged on the shaft Z, which consists of a collar w, fixed on the shaft Z, a spring z, and a feather o, which latter takes into the notch m in the bearing u of the shaft Z. By pushing or drawing the shaft longitudinally the feather o is removed from the notch and the shaft can then be turned to effect the uncoupling. When the shaft is turned back into its normal position, the spring z moves it back longitudinally until the feather fu takes again into the notch x and prevents the shaft from turning until it is again moved longitudinally, so as to free the feather o from the notch Qc.

Another apparatus (shown in the drawings) serves for shortening or lengthening the coupling; but this is only necessary in cases where the ordinary arrangement of buffers is retained, and its object is to press the buffers in fast trains firmly together. W'here the coupling itself is constructed to act as a buffer also, as hereinbefore described, the lengthening and shortening apparatus is superfluous.

lOO

This apparatus consists of a Wheelp',1nount ed on a shaft p, on which is fixed the Worm s, which gears with a Worm-Wheel formed on or secured to a spring-case o, through which a square part n' of the draw-bar n passes. By turning the wheel p the draw-bar n is screwed farther into or out of the bar a', so as t0 shorten or lengthen, or tighten or slacken, the coupling. The fixed ring r, which is fixed to the buffer-bar, serves as a bearingr for the spring-case o. The object of the spring q is to prevent displacement of the coupling.

It is obvious that this ball-coupling apparatus can also be employed for the coupling; of ships, machinery-shafting, and other 0bjects.

Having` now described my invention, what I claini, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

An automatic ball-coupling each half of which is provided with a fork a, a casting b slotted obliquely at its side and provided with a ball h', and a tongue-piece CZ jointed to the coupling by a universal joint and hollowed out at its front end to receive the couplingball b combined and operated substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence ol two subscribing witnesses. u

HUGO FELIX OBERLAUTER.

Titnessesz RUDOLPH FRICKE, EDUARD LOEPER, 

